The University of Pittsburgh has yet again seen a record-breaking number of first-year applications to its Oakland campus.
Pitt Chancellor Joan Gabel said during Thursday’s Board of Trustees meeting that nearly 60,000 prospective students vied for a spot at the university during the most recent application cycle.
That tops last year’s record of over 58,200 applicants and the 2022 record of over 53,000 applicants.
Ms. Gabel attributed the rise to the university’s efforts to bolster its recruitment. She specifically mentioned the quality of Pitt’s programs and the school’s heightened focus on rural recruitment over the past two years.
“[That] is a wonderful combination that is drawing the interest of a large number of students,” Ms. Gabel said after the board meeting. “We are not surprised, but happy, to see a strong number of applications.”
Like universities across the country, Pitt is seemingly benefiting from a post-COVID surge in applications. Just three years ago, the university only received about 34,600 applications.
And in 2013, about 27,600 people applied to join the school’s freshman class. Applications more than doubled a decade later.
A fall analysis by the Post-Gazette found that most regional schools have reported application growth since the onset of the pandemic.
Experts have attributed surges to several factors, including test-optional admissions and the popularity of the Common App, which allows students to easily submit their applications to multiple colleges in one fell swoop.
But despite a large application pool, Ms. Gabel said the university is not exactly sure how many freshmen will be on its Oakland campus come fall.
She attributed that to complications with the updated FAFSA form. Students across the country are still waiting to receive financial aid offers from colleges as the Department of Education’s rollout of the new FAFSA form has been muddied with delays and miscalculations.
Pitt officials have said the university plans to send out financial aid offers to undergraduate students the week of April 22.
Because of delays, many schools — including Pitt — have pushed back their commitment deadlines from May 1 to May 15. That will give incoming freshmen roughly a month to weigh their collegiate options with a full financial picture in mind.
Ms. Gabel said Pitt is looking into pushing the deadline back further, but a decision has yet to be made.
“What we're going to do is put the needs of the students first,” she said. “They're absolutely the priority. This is tough, there's no question about it, but as tough as it is for us, it's even tougher for them.”
First Published: April 4, 2024, 8:26 p.m.
Updated: April 5, 2024, 2:02 p.m.
